Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal profile
CAO Liu 曹流 is an urban cultural geographer with interests in the everyday life of cities, urban consumption, and cities and social changes. She works at the intersection of urban geography and cultural studies to understand the urban. She is particularly interested in urban consumption in China by looking at how new urban spaces are structured and transformed through peoples consumption practices, and the major theme running through her work is to use empirical research from China to develop conversations with existing urban scholarship that is grounded from the West.
Office hour: Every Monday 3-4 pm or by email appointment
Current research:
I am now focusing on a new urban phenomenon in China about 'wanghong consumption place'. My research mostly explores how wanghong consumption initiated the urban changes to contribute to the contemporary urban scholarship. By calling it wanghong, I refer to a Chinese phenomenon about things/people/place/goods that is popular on Chinese social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu. This is new research project has just had its first research output out on EPA (please refer to my research output).
Any my publications that you want to read but have no access to it, please feel free to email me and I can email you the full text version.
*At the moment I do not accept any PhD students.
Experience
Assistant Professor, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2022-Current
Postdoctoral Researcher, Sun Yat-sen University, 2020-2022
Research interests
- Urban Consumption
- Cities and Social Changes
- Urban Cultures
- Everyday Life
Awards and honours
2024, Best paper award, 5th National Economic Geography Conference, Nanjing, China
2022, Overseas Postdoctoral Talents Fund, Guangdong Province, China
2018, Student Travel Award, Urban Geography Research Group, American Association of Geographers
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Related documents
Education/Academic qualification
PhD, Cardiff University - 2020
MSc, University of Manchester - 2016
BEng, Nanjing University of Information, Science and Technology - 2015
Keywords
- G Geography (General)
- urban consumption
- cities and social changes
- geographies of consumption
- everyday life of cities
- Chinese Urbanism
Person Types
- Staff
Fingerprint
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Understanding the urban space restructuring mechanism under the impacts of digital platforms: from the perspective of wanghong consumption
1/07/24 → 30/06/27
Project: Internal Research Project
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The constraints and preferences of joint leisure behaviour among family members
1/01/23 → 31/12/26
Project: Governmental Research Project
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The internal re-mobility and socio-spatial response of international migrants
1/01/23 → 31/12/26
Project: Governmental Research Project
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The geographical changes in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
1/01/21 → 31/12/22
Project: Internal Research Project
Research output
- 6 Article
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From online to onsite: Wanghong economy as the new engine driving China’s urban development
Cao, L., 2024, In: Environment and Planning A. 56, 4, p. 1061-1076 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
3 Citations (Scopus) -
Influencers and social media: gentrification aesthetics and prosumption through China’s wanghong economy
Cao, L., 2024, In: Urban Geography.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Wanghong consumption and its politics in (re)making the place through new urban aestheticisation
Cao, L., 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Consuming ‘authenticity’? Reinterpreting the ‘new middle class’ in China through the lens of retailing changes
Cao, L., Feb 2023, In: Urban Studies. 60, 3, p. 501-518 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
3 Citations (Scopus) -
A post-revanchist city: A governmentality perspective on public participation in Nanjing, China
Cao, L., Mar 2022, In: Cities. 122, 103550Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
18 Citations (Scopus)
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From online to onsite: wanghong economy as the new engine driving China's urban development
Liu Cao (Speaker)
25 Apr 2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation at conference/workshop/seminar
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Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space (Journal)
Liu Cao (Reviewer)
2024 → …Activity: Peer-review and editorial work of publications › Publication Peer-review
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Regional Studies (Journal)
Liu Cao (Reviewer)
2024 → …Activity: Peer-review and editorial work of publications › Publication Peer-review
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Check-in activities and urban development through China's wanghong consumption
Liu Cao (Speaker)
2 Dec 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation at conference/workshop/seminar
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Research the development of urban cultural industries based on vernacular wanghong consumption: the case of Dongshankou, Guangzhou
Liu Cao (Speaker)
4 Nov 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk